By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
WAKARUSA -- If Lifetime RV had started a few years ago, president Jeff Rank doubts he would have gotten this much interest. Maybe a few resumes and a stack of applications to sift through, followed by a couple years of building a team.
Offering management and production jobs in an economy struggling with double-digit unemployment, however, shows these times are different. "Inundated," Rank said to describe the flood of applications sent to the Forest River corporate office, Lifetime's parent company, and about 20 to 25 jobseekers who, each day, cold-call at Lifetime's plant on S.R. 19.
"It's way more than just the production worker," Rank said of the residents who are unemployed. "It's mid-management level. It's heartbreaking."
Layoffs at local companies cut deep into the work force as Elkhart County's jobless rate flirted with 20 percent earlier this year. From March through June, the number of unemployed fell about 2 percent. While this brings small relief that businesses are adding workers to their payrolls, the hiring process is swamping some human resource departments.
Prior to Keystone RV Co. announcing on Monday that it would hire at least 200 production workers, the manufacturer made preparations to take the expected 3,000 applications, said Bob Martin, executive vice president. Personnel from other departments were temporarily pulled to help workers through the filing process and a counter in a back hallway was cleared, providing enough space for 50 people to fill out the applications at one time.
"We had people everywhere," Martin said.
Dometic Corp. has chosen to hold job fairs to screen applicants for the nearly 250 positions being created in Elkhart, according to Brad Sargent, vice president of marketing. Despite the announced job fairs and the sign on the company's front door stating it is not accepting applications, people still come in to ask about possible openings.
Quality workers
Just as the pile of applications grows quickly when a company hires, the quality of candidates applying is also increasing.
Even workers filing for assembly line jobs are turning in very professional-looking resumes, Rank said. Some of the applicants who have been unemployed for a long time have taken classes or enrolled in retraining programs.
"I've seen quite a few of them and, to me, it sets those people apart," Rank said, although, he noted, the education does not necessarily sway his decision to hire.
At Welch Packaging Group in Elkhart, a steady stream of jobseekers fills the front office, filling out applications from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, said Mary Minix, vice president of human resources. Sorting through the forms takes time but the "A players" the company wants are appearing more often.
"We're finding the people we are hiring are more experienced and want to be a part of the team," she said.
Rank agreed, saying he was able to hire a crew of managers with a level of ability and knowledge that, in better economic conditions, may have taken up to five years to put together.
Aside from education and experience, Rank is noticing another difference in the workers looking for jobs. They are coming "hungry, energized (and) ready to work," he said. The new hire who displays a good attitude, makes an effort and cares about his or her work, "make for a great employee."
A black hole
For those looking for work, the job market has changed in a way more significant than having to compete with a large number of candidates
Applicants have to forget their previous titles, said Eric Huggins, and define themselves by their skills to show how they can help the company grow. Businesses are not wanting to hire employees who can sustain the day-to-day operations -- they want workers who will take the company into a new market or enable the company to offer a different service.
The unemployed have to adjust their whole way of thinking, Huggins said.
Having been jobless for seven months, Huggins is well-acquainted with searching for work in this challenging environment. He spent much of his time active in the Michiana Career Network, a group of local unemployed residents who meet regularly to discuss job-hunting skills.
Most of the 200 members who belong to the network are professionals facing unemployment after having worked in their last positions 10 or more years, Huggins said. No longer can they make a few phone calls and get a new job. They are now one of many and after turning in a few resumes, they realize how brutal the job search can be.
"You submit and you get nothing," Huggins said. "It's a black hole."
A preferable problem
Cuts to administrative staff have left some human resource departments shorthanded, which compounds the frustrations of the hiring process, said Chad Hahn, membership director for the Michiana Human Resource Association. In the past, people who would have helped read and choose applications and resumes are gone.
"I can imagine it's just got to be awful," Hahn said. "But I'm sure they've got to prefer this problem to letting people go."